Dennis RomeroSee our addendum, at the bottom.
An Inglewood marijuana dispensary that was the first pot shop in Los Angeles county, according to its owner, was shut down by police today and will likely close for good, he told the Weekly.
Paul Scott of IMCC Wellness Center says numerous police officers showed up shortly after 1 p.m. and raided his store. He told us that cops at the scene said the other dispensaries in Inglewood — he estimated there were 3 of them — would also be put out of business today:
Scott said he was led to believe the city, under mayor and former Santa Monica police Chief James T. Butts, decided to essentially outlaw cannabis outlets within its jurisdiction following a California Supreme Court ruling last year that allows municipalities to do just that.
See also: Marijuana Decision by Calif. Supreme Court Allows Cities Like L.A. to Shut Down Pot Shops.
“I guess they decided they no longer want medical marijuana in the city of of Inglewood,” he said. “That's sad.”
Scott says his shop at 318 S. Market St. opened in 1999. In 1996 the voters of California legalized medical marijuana. The store owner, 50, says he was also a board member for second pot shop in the state, one that opened in Oakland in the mid-1990s.
Scott, who's living with HIV, said he was inspired to open his store because patients like him were suffering and unable to easily access cannabis in Inglewood.
Credit: Paul Scott with Jasmine Cannick via Jasmine Cannick / YouTube.
He said he met with mayor Butts and that the city leader indicated this day would come:
“He said I'm a casualty of the war.”
(We reached out to Butts' office and to the Inglewood Police Department but had yet to hear back from someone who could comment).
[Added at 2:55 p.m. on Friday]: It was pointed out to us that the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center was founded in West Hollywood in 1996, a few years before the Inglewood dispensary opened its doors. We were careful to say that the claim of being first was Scott's, and this proves why.
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